burial – Religion & Ethics NewsWeeklyhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics
An examination of religion's role and the ethical dimensions behind top news headlines.Wed, 05 Apr 2017 14:50:31 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 The Long Forgotten Mentally Illhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/11/15/november-15-2013-delayed-dignified-burials/21079/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/11/15/november-15-2013-delayed-dignified-burials/21079/#disqus_threadFri, 15 Nov 2013 20:53:28 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=21079Rights groups are working to identify the unmarked graves of mentally disabled patients in Minnesota to give them the respect and dignity in death that they didn't receive in life. More →

]]>At the cemetery of a former Minnesota mental hospital, hundreds of patients were buried in nameless graves marked only with numbers. But disability rights groups and family members are working to identify the graves and give these forgotten dead a respect and dignity they did not receive in life.

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2013/11/15/november-15-2013-delayed-dignified-burials/21079/feed/0 Where Was Jesus Buried?http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/03/30/march-30-2012-where-was-jesus-buried/10645/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/03/30/march-30-2012-where-was-jesus-buried/10645/#disqus_threadFri, 30 Mar 2012 18:50:27 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=10645The Garden Tomb and Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem "tell the same story" about the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, says Garden Tomb deputy director Steve Bridge, "but on a different site." More →

]]>KIM LAWTON, correspondent: During Holy Week, Christians remember the familiar story of Jesus’s death and resurrection. But exactly where does that story take place? The Bible offers only a few clues.

REV. MARK MOROZOWICH (Catholic University of America): The Gospels weren’t really written to record a history. They were written to provide a testimony of faith.

LAWTON: According to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified at a spot outside Jerusalem called Golgotha, which in Aramaic means “place of the skull.” The Latin word for skull is calvaria, and in English many Christians refer to the site of the crucifixion as Calvary. The Gospel of John says there was a garden at Golgotha, and a tomb which had never been used. Since the tomb was nearby, John says, that’s where Jesus’s body was placed. The Gospel writers say the tomb was owned by a prominent rich man, Joseph of Arimathea. They describe it as cut out of rock, with a large stone that could be rolled in front of the entrance.

Father Mark Morozowich is acting dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America.

MOROZOWICH: At the time of Jesus, when he was crucified, he was not really a significant feature in Israel. I mean, certainly there was jealousy, certainly he had his followers. But there was no church that was built immediately upon his death or to mark his resurrection.

LAWTON: In the fourth century, as Emperor Constantine was consolidating the Roman Empire under Christianity, his mother, St. Helena, traveled to Jerusalem. According to tradition, she discovered relics of the cross upon which Jesus had been crucified. The spot had been venerated by early Christians, and she concluded it was Golgotha. Constantine ordered the construction of a basilica, which became known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

MOROZOWICH: Now people throughout history have debated was it really there, or was it here? Traditionally in that fourth century time that was so amazing, they found this rock and this tomb not far from one another as we see even today in the church you know they’re just a short distance from one another.

LAWTON: Over the centuries, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed, rebuilt and renovated several times. There have been numerous power struggles over who should control it, and even today, sometimes violent squabbles can break out among the several Christian denominations that share jurisdiction. But it is considered one of the holiest sites in Christianity, a massive place of pilgrimage and intense spiritual devotion. At the entrance, visitors can kiss the Stone of Unction which, according to tradition, marks the place where Jesus’ body was washed for burial. The dark chapel commemorating the crucifixion is in one upper corner, and the place marking the tomb on the other side.

MOROZOWICH: What more of a moving place to walk in Jerusalem, the place of the crucifixion, to meditate at Golgotha where Jesus Christ died, the place where he rose from the tomb. So they are very beautiful and very moving moments when a person can have a very deep relationship with God.

LAWTON: During Holy Week in particular, the Holy Sepulchre is the center for special devotions, such as the Holy Fire ritual, where flames from inside the tomb area are passed among the candles of worshippers.

MOROZOWICH: The bishop brings out the light from the tomb and this illuminates and plays on this whole sense of the light of the world coming forth again.

LAWTON: But despite the history and devotion, some question whether that indeed is the true spot. Some Christians, including many Protestants, believe Jesus could have been crucified and buried at a different place in Jerusalem known as the Garden Tomb.

STEVE BRIDGE (Deputy Director, The Garden Tomb): The tomb was discovered in 1867. For hundreds of years before that it had lain buried under rock and rubble and earth and things had grown on top of it.

LAWTON: Steve Bridge is deputy director at the Garden Tomb, which is located just outside the Old City’s Damascus Gate. He says this site was promoted in the late nineteenth century by British General Charles Gordon, who argued that the hillside with the features of a human skull could be actual crucifixion site.

BRIDGE: When we’re looking, now we’re looking side on, and you can see maybe what looks like the two eye-sockets there on the rock face. The Bible tells us Jesus was crucified outside the city walls at a place called Golgotha, which simply means the skull, and so many people believe that Skull Hill is Golgotha, the place of the skull where Jesus died.

LAWTON: This Skull Hill looms over an ancient garden, with cisterns and a wine press, which could indicate that it was owned by a wealthy person. In the garden was a tomb, hewn from the rock.

BRIDGE: The tomb itself is at least two-thousand years old. Many date it as older than that. But it’s certainly not less than 2,000 years old. It’s a Jewish tomb, it’s definitely a rolling stone tomb. That means the entrance would be sealed by rolling a large stone across.

LAWTON: Inside the tomb is a 1300-year-old marking of a cross with the Byzantine words “Jesus Christ, the Beginning and the End.”

BRIDGE: So there’s burial space for at least two bodies, probably more. That, again, matches the bible description. It was a family tomb that Joseph had built for himself and his family.

LAWTON: Bridge says Christians are deeply moved by this visual image of where Jesus may have been placed after he was taken down from the cross.

BRIDGE: On that day, as far as people were concerned, that was the end of the story, that was the end of one that they had hoped would be the Messiah, because a dead Messiah is no good. But three days later, we believe God raised Jesus to life and that was the start of what we now call Christianity of course.

LAWTON: According to Bridge, the Garden Tomb is not trying to set up a competition with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

BRIDGE: There’s no doubt that historically, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, has the evidence on its side, and we certainly wouldn’t want to do or say anything that would suggest that we think they’re wrong about the site or that we think that we’re right. What we say we have here is something that matches the Bible description.

LAWTON: And Bridge says, for him, it doesn’t ultimately matter where the actual place is.

BRIDGE: That’s very secondary to Jesus himself, who we believe he is, and why he died, and, you know, on that score us and the Holy Sepulchre would be exactly the same, telling the same story but on a different site.

LAWTON: Father Morozowich agrees that, especially at Easter time, Christians should focus more on what Jesus did, rather than on where he may have done it.

MOROZOWICH: Where he walked is very, very important. At the same time though, we know that Jesus is more than this historical figure that walked the earth, and in his resurrection, he transcends all of that. So he is as real and present in Mishawaka and in Washington, DC as he is in Jerusalem.

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2012/03/30/march-30-2012-where-was-jesus-buried/10645/feed/10Sweeping the Graveshttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2008/07/18/sweeping-the-graves/29/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2008/07/18/sweeping-the-graves/29/#disqus_threadFri, 18 Jul 2008 20:33:09 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2008/08/28/belief-practice-sweeping-the-graves/29BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: We had a chance early this past spring to visit members of a Chinese family as they honored their ancestors at their graves. It is the belief of many Chinese that there is an ongoing spiritual connection … More →

]]>BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: We had a chance early this past spring to visit members of a Chinese family as they honored their ancestors at their graves. It is the belief of many Chinese that there is an ongoing spiritual connection between them and their forebears. They venerate them, pray to them, and take gifts to their graves. Our guide was Jan Lee, a third-generation resident of Chinatown in New York.

JAN LEE: Chinatown has been described oftentimes as a village within the city. There’s a certain pride in passing on the culture and every tradition possible so that the younger generation understands where they came from.

The Chinese have a belief that you don’t exist on your own, that there is this continuum.

We observe certain traditions within our household, and that includes making sure that my grandfather’s altar, and now my father’s altar in my mother’s house, has food during the holidays, for instance during the Chinese New Year.

Home altar

We’ve been observing for many, many, many decades this tradition of going to the graveside and sweeping the graves and planting flowers and bringing offerings of food.

When my grandfather was planning for the future of the Lee family, he had the foresight to purchase a large family plot in Evergreen Cemetery. It had all the benefits of being not only a beautiful site, but a great place for cosmic energy — feng shui.

Once the candles are lit, it really signifies the connection between us as mortals and our ancestors’ spirits and that we’re opening sort of a gateway to communicate with them. And when we light incense, we pray. It’s the time when they get to join in the feast that we bring to the cemetery, and that includes offering them wine, and that includes burning money so that they have money to spend. It’s all the idea that, by burning it, you’re bringing it to them.

Jan Lee

We bow three times because there’s a belief that the spirit actually splits. In the Chinese belief, one of your souls will go to heaven or hell depending on your past deeds, and one is interred. But there’s also a part of the spirit that stays among us, and that’s the spirit that we call on when we need help.

Once the candles are finished, it signifies that the spirits have finished their meal and we can partake of the food that we brought.

I think everyone in my family still believes that my father’s with us. That belief comes from starting when we were very young going to cemetery and having a family altar in my family home.

The connection to the ancestors is something that I think we all feel important to us, so it’s never been an idea of obligation. It’s our choice.

]]>http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2008/07/18/sweeping-the-graves/29/feed/1 Exploring Religious America, Part Onehttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2002/04/26/april-26-2002-exploring-religious-america-part-one/11569/
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2002/04/26/april-26-2002-exploring-religious-america-part-one/11569/#disqus_threadFri, 26 Apr 2002 15:08:44 +0000http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/?p=11569Part one of a five-part series exploring religious America: In partnership with U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY conducted a national poll on religion and spirituality in American life. Part one investigates the challenges and consequences of religious diversity in America. More →

BOB ABERNETHY: We begin today a series of special reports we call “Exploring Religious America.” We ask: How religious are we, and how are we religious?

The answers: We are very religious, but perhaps not as religious as we say we are or used to be. At the same time, for the country as a whole, we are religious in an extraordinary number of ways. In the most recent surveys, as for many years, 90 percent of Americans tell pollsters they believe in God or a higher power. Sixty percent say they pray every day.

Even half the people who profess no religion say they pray, too. The number of these so-called seculars — atheists, agnostics, and other unchurched — is going up: one survey says it is now 14 percent. But the overwhelming majority of Americans say they are religious and 80 percent identify themselves as Christians, worshipping in 300,000 congregations in more than 4,000 denominations.

In partnership with U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY conducted a national poll on religion and spirituality in American life. Eighty-seven percent say religion is important in their lives. Eighty-three percent say they have experienced God’s presence or a spiritual force that felt very close, and 46 percent say they have felt this many times. More than three fourths say religious faith has been important in dealing with the attacks of last September 11.

Also, a dramatic shift: when we asked Christians if their religion is the only one that is true, 77 percent said no, all religions have elements of truth. Alan Wolfe is a sociologist at Boston College.

ALAN WOLFE (Boston College): Given our history, it is absolutely remarkable, and it testifies to probably the single biggest change in the way people think about religion. I mean, there really was a time when to say “I’m religious” would mean to say “My way is the only way.” And that is not how people speak anymore. They recognize that there are many paths and many ways.

ABERNETHY: Another change is the country’s unprecedented religious diversity, and today, in Part One of our new series, we look at diversity’s challenges and consequences.

Diana Eck of Harvard University studies what she calls the new religious America. She is a United Methodist who teaches Asian religions.

DIANA ECK (Harvard University): In simple terms, we have become the most religiously diverse nation on earth. And I believe that. People will say, well, look at India. Look at Canada. Look at Britain. But if you really look at it… you have something much more complex than we see… in any other part of the world.

ABERNETHY: Once, many Americans liked to call ours a Christian nation. Then, beginning in the 1950s, the phrase became our “Judeo-Christian heritage.” Now, since the Immigration Act of 1965 welcomed many more people from Asia and Africa and the Middle East, who brought their religions with them, people speak of an America that has become “multifaith.”

For much of American history, many Protestant Christians were intolerant of Catholics, Mormons, and other non-Protestants. But now, our new poll shows most Americans are extraordinarily tolerant… or at least like to think they are. Four out of five Christians say they are tolerant of people of other religious faiths. (But only half of non-Christians think Christians are tolerant.) And three quarters of Christians say America’s religious diversity is a source of strength and vitality to everyone’s individual beliefs. But all that tolerance may not be based on knowledge. Big majorities admit they are unfamiliar with the basic teachings of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. And experts say even these numbers may be low.

Even bigger majorities say they do not personally know anyone of those faiths. And 48 percent even say they do not know anyone who is Jewish. One reason most Americans know so little about other religions is the geographical clusters in which we worship. Measured by their predominance in each county, Catholics are concentrated in the Northeast and Southwest, Lutherans in the upper Midwest, with Methodists, Presbyterians, and others in a strip beneath them. Baptists sweep across the South. And Mormons are concentrated in Utah and the mountain states.

After September 11, there were some hate crimes. But they prompted strong, immediate condemnation. Meanwhile, national political and religious leaders organized interfaith events to help send the message that the country’s enemy was not Islam but terrorism. There was great demand for Islamic leaders as speakers, and learning about Islam became a new national pastime. Nevertheless, in spite of all the efforts at understanding, favorable opinions of Islam have fallen about 10 points since 9/11. Moreover, 39 percent of Americans, in our poll, say there is a larger number of violent extremists within Islam than in other religions.

And — perhaps reflecting talk of war with Iraq — more than two thirds say they expect a bigger conflict between Christian and Islamic nations.

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: The actual number of all America’s Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and other non-Christian believers is probably no more than six percent. Still, many Americans want tighter restrictions on immigration, and the growing visibility of new immigrants in many communities is testing the majority’s tolerance.

Jeff Sheler, religion writer for U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, covered one such test in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.

JEFF SHELER: Lawrenceville, Georgia — a suburb of Atlanta — deep in the Bible Belt, and also home to thousands of Muslims. They’ve built more than a dozen mosques and schools in the area. But they are far outnumbered by Southern Baptists and other Christians. Gary Laderman is a religion professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. GARY LADERMAN (Emory University): The kind of pluralism we’re seeing is unheard of, and we don’t know what the response is going to be.

SHELER: The community did respond when a mosque in Lawrenceville bought this plot of land next to a new subdivision and across the street from a Methodist church and cemetery… and asked the county for permission to turn their land into an Islamic cemetery. The community’s response? “Not in MY backyard!”

DREW JOHNSON (Neighbor): Number one, they put the cemetery in the middle of a subdivision — health issues, property value, safety for kids.

MOIZ MUMTAIZ (Cemetery Supporter): We have worked with the county and with the neighbors to make sure their property values don’t go down. At the same time, we have to do what our rights are in terms of religious rights.

SHELER: For many residents, the Muslim practice of wrapping the unembalmed body in a shroud and burying it within hours of death, without a casket, is unacceptable. Funeral services at the nearby Methodist cemetery follow more familiar customs.

HEATHER STONECYPHER (Neighbor): I didn’t see a man in a sheet being toted around on someone’s shoulders. I mean it was a coffin, it was very discreet, it was a very quick service, and I didn’t have to be exposed to potential health hazards.

SHELER: But were health, safety, and property-value concerns the real issue? Or was something more behind the neighbors’ opposition?
County Commissioner John Dunn says he tried to give the Muslims a fair hearing.

JOHN DUNN (Gwinnett County Commissioner): The sense that I got was, you know, “We have Christian cemeteries in our country. And we believe that in America, land of the free, we should have a cemetery here. Now, what do we need to do to make this come to pass?”

SHELER: Dunn ordered soil sample and water table studies requested by the community, checked with state and federal health officials and others, and concluded that a cemetery at the site would pose no health hazard. But the neighbors were not satisfied. They complained that another Muslim cemetery south of Atlanta, near Lovejoy, was a hazard and an eyesore.

DREW JOHNSON: The issue is we’re afraid there’s going to be an unsightly scene in our backyard as far as unkept cemetery and gravesites, open graves, sunken graves, general appearance of the place, and degeneration of our property value.

SHELER: Hafiz Khan, the imam at the Lawrenceville mosque, was willing to compromise on some traditional Muslim burial practices in order to satisfy the neighbors’ objections.
Dunn says he tried to find a middle ground.

Mr. DUNN: Obviously, I wasn’t going to require that they embalm. I wasn’t going to require that they have a hermetically sealed casket in a hermetically sealed vault, because that would seem to strike at the foundation of their burial beliefs. So I didn’t want to do that. But what I did want was something that was safe.

SHELER: The commission approved the cemetery, with conditions: Unlike the Islamic cemetery in Lovejoy, people would be buried inside wooden caskets and open-bottomed vaults, no graves would be dug more than 24 hours in advance, and an eight-foot-high wooden fence would surround the cemetery. Leaders of the mosque agreed, even though it meant modifying their traditions.

Mr. MUMTAIZ: But that does not violate the Islamic burial process in any way.

SHELER: Still, the residents were not happy, and several homes have gone up for sale. That leaves Dunn and others convinced that something more was afoot.

Mr. DUNN: Every time that I’d come up with an answer, a solution to one of their questions, it seemed like there was always something else that would come up.

SHELER: Joshua Salaam of the Council on American Islamic Relations says it’s not unusual for religious intolerance to show itself in land-use cases such as this.

JOSHUA SALAAM (Council on American Islamic Relations): It happens enough where many times it’s worthy to investigate the issue, and that’s what we’ve found.

SHELER: Members of the mosque seem satisfied and are moving forward. But Professor Laderman of Emory University says the Muslim compromise on burial practices illustrates the kinds of accommodations religious newcomers often must make in adjusting to new surroundings.

Dr. LADERMAN: But the Christian groups also in the area will have to modify their stance about religious toleration, about religious openness to new people in the community.

SHELER: One adjustment local Christians may have to consider, Laderman says, involves proselytizing.

Dr. LADERMAN: Well, the recent resolution by the Southern Baptists to proselytize Hindus, for example, as a primary goal in their missionary activity. I think that’s an extreme reaction, and that doesn’t sit well with many people who want to celebrate American religious freedom.

SHELER: Pastor James Merritt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, leads a church one town over from Lawrenceville. But he supports diversity and is not convinced adjustments are needed.

JAMES MERRITT (President, Southern Baptist Convention): One of the things that I’m grateful for in America is that we do have religious diversity.

SHELER: But that doesn’t lessen his commitment to evangelism.

Mr. MERRITT: Evangelism for a Christian is not an option. It’s an obligation.

Dr. LADERMAN: I don’t think you’ll find any religious groups giving up their belief in a Truth with a capital “T”. But, in terms of daily practice, in terms of how they arrange and schedule their lives and their communal rituals, there will probably have to be adjustments.

SHELER: As the nation becomes more religiously diverse, experts say American culture itself is likely to face difficult adjustments. And not everyone is ready for that.

Dr. LADERMAN: It’s going to be difficult to for the nation to hold all of these forces together, especially because they have such a wide-ranging, diverse number of values — value systems and sacred texts and commitments and motivations.

SHELER: Living together peacefully and productively in a patchwork of religions, many experts say, will require a greater commitment to local interfaith activities — to personal engagement with people of other faiths in local civic projects and in interreligious dialogue.

Gerald Durley is a Baptist minister and leader of Atlanta’s interfaith community.

Pastor GERALD DURLEY (Missionary Baptist Church): If there’s ever to be a civilization that is somewhat progressive, people must understand one another, trust one another, and respect one another.

Mr. MERRITT: A lot of times what people are interested in, in these interfaith gatheringss is basically, “Let’s all come together and,” implicitly, “let’s affirm the truth claims of one another and let’s affirm that we’re all equal and that your claim is no more valid than mine and mine is no more valid than yours.” And, obviously, as a Christian, believing that Christ is not just a good way to heaven or the best way to heaven, or even the Baptist way to heaven; that he is the only way to heaven, we can’t compromise that singular belief.

SHELER: In spite of their religious differences, Christians and Muslims in Lawrenceville did find a compromise on the cemetery.

Mr. MUMTAIZ: I think the purpose of our religion is to promote peace, and that’s our goal.

Dr. LADERMAN: It was probably a big deal to make the change, ’cause they would prefer not to. But, on the other hand, this is a face of Islam that we need to see more of, I think, in America, which is one that is about being good neighbors.

ABERNETHY: According to our new poll, one quarter of American Christians — like James Merritt of the Southern Baptist Convention — say they have a duty to convert people of other faiths. Twenty-four percent. But 70 percent say Christians have a duty to be tolerant of people of other faiths and leave them alone.

Sociologist Robert Wuthnow of Princeton University says this tolerance reflects a huge change in certainty.

ROBERT WUTHNOW (Princeton University): For many, many centuries, Christians have thought they had the truth, and that other people did not have the truth in the same way. And now, Christians are not quite so sure of that. They are more likely to say, “This is true for me.” And that radically changes the meaning of truth, when it’s just true for you and not necessarily true for somebody else.

ABERNETHY: Professor Wuthnow sees a question.

WUTHNOW: How much are people thinking deeply about the truth of their own religion, their belief in Christianity, and what they mean by other religions being true? I don’t think a lot of people have really sorted that out, and I think that’s going to be a big issue for people in churches, pastors, people in seminaries, to start sorting out or finding some clear guidance.

ABERNETHY: Tolerance of other religions may already have changed how many evangelicals think about proselytizing. Alan Wolfe.

WOLFE: What they say is that “My commitment to evangelize is for me to live the best life that I can, for me to be a witness to Jesus by being exemplary in what I do.” And more and more that’s what the duty to evangelize consists of.

ECK: I think the thing that many people who are not Christians feel about Christian evangelism and mission is that it is so one-way, it is so one-sided. And it has, it has all mouth, you might say, and no ears. And I think that’s — as a Christian, I would say that is a wrong understanding of what kind of relationship we should have with people of other faiths.

ABERNETHY: Among other lessons, Professor Eck thinks Christians can learn from Hindus new ways of thinking about the many attributes of one God; from Buddhists, an emphasis on compassion and being mindful; from Muslims, the habit of stopping everything five times a day to pray; and from all, hospitality.

ECK: I think Christians need to recognize across the board that the Christian church does not have a corner on compassion and love, the virtues that are called in St. Paul’s letter to Galatians the “fruits of the spirit.” These are things that are widely shared, and we need to keep our eyes open for them wherever we find them.

ABERNETHY: America’s democracy and freedom, and ideal of equality, have changed virtually every previous religious immigrant group, and Alan Wolfe says it will continue to do that. He spoke of Muslims.

WOLFE: Muslims who come here from very, very traditional religious environments are already changing their religion. You can’t have the traditional Islamic attitude toward women that you might have had in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, come here to this country, and keep it up. It’s not going to last. The culture is going to influence you, and you are going to change. And that is very much what happened to Catholics, and it is very much what happened to Jews.

ABERNETHY: Our poll asked Americans whether they think having many different religions in the U.S. makes it harder to keep the country united. Fewer than a third say it makes it harder; 62 percent say it does not.

Diana Eck says she is optimistic that the U.S. can be both religiously diverse and united.

ECK: We have this challenge in the United States to do something that has really never been done before, which is to create a multireligious and democratic state.

ABERNETHY: Summing up, there’s been a historic shift in the variety of religions in America, in the confidence of Christians that theirs is the only truth, and in greater tolerance of the religions of others. That’s our report on diversity — Part One in our new series, “Exploring Religious America.” In the next two weeks, we look at Christianity and the experience of being Protestant or Catholic. Then, American spirituality, in churches and outside them. Finally, we will try to measure the strength of American religion in the face of all the ideas and forces that challenge it.